ARIEL WOODARD-STEPHENS

Ariel Woodard-Stephens, Esq. joined GWAC in 2018 and has been an active member of the Executive Board for both the bar association and the foundation. Currently, she serves as Vice Chair of the foundation. And brings She has led several initiatives, including the Foundation's Employment Assistance Grant, our response to the unprecedented layoffs in the government and private sector in the DMV, the Foundation’s “Taking Care of Business” workshop in partnership with Citibank, and the wellness retreat initiative.

Ariel was raised in a military family, which not only instilled in her the importance of community and leadership but also the significance of education. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from George Mason University, where she was a member of the track and field team. Subsequently, she attended Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts. Her notable co-ops included the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the University of Ireland-Galway, and the Department of Justice. 

Upon completing her law degree, Ariel was awarded the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation’s Bart Gordon Fellowship. This fellowship was established to provide attorneys of color with exposure to direct service work and litigation. As a fellow, Ariel served clients in the Consumer Law, Family Law, Housing, and Welfare Law units. During her tenure, she litigated debt-assignment clauses, appeared before ALJs, authored comments on Social Security regulations, and negotiated an international custody dispute.

Ariel also clerked in the New Jersey Superior Court’s Criminal Division in Cape May County where she served as a court-trained mediator. This role allowed her to work with three judges during the State’s “Criminal Justice Reform” movement, which abolished the cash-bail-only system in the State. In this capacity, the state awarded its first expungement based on actual innocence.

In 2018, Ariel returned to Washington, D.C., as a contract attorney in the USPS Corporate Law Global Business Section. Subsequently, she joined Rising for Justice and was promoted to Supervising Attorney for the Civil Protection Order Project. During her tenure, she was responsible for grant reports, partnership development, supervising graduate students, and representing clients in various motions and evidentiary hearings before the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. She also specialized in ADA accommodations for RFJ's Eviction Defense Services program.

In 2020, Ariel joined FEMA’s Office of Chief Counsel as an Attorney for Regulatory Affairs. During her tenure at FEMA, she spearheaded several key priorities, including the Agency’s inaugural demographic collection effort and several rule-making teams. Notably, she authored post-Loper Bright Administrative Procedure Act (APA) analyses, which combined with her information and data protection contributions, ultimately earned her an Office of Chief Counsel Award for work on the Individual Assistance program’s most comprehensive updates in two decades.

Currently, Ariel serves as a General Attorney with the National Credit Union Administration’s Office of General Counsel. In this role, she provides counsel on merger transactions, capital instruments, and executive order compliance and oversight strategy, drafts regulations, and delivers training for internal stakeholders and strategic briefings to senior leadership.

Outside of her professional responsibilities and involvement with GWAC, Ariel serves as the leader of the DMV National Alopecia Areata Foundation support group. In September 2025, as site leader for NAAF's Walk for Alopecia in Arlington, she helped raise $50,000 for alopecia research and support.